My travel mates

My point of view: Friends is totally different from travel mates.

Friendship formed is usually from common background (school or work) & interests.
But I have to say, not every friends, have the same travel interests, opinions, funds to travel.

I never travel together with my friends before. Yes, its true.
And my first travel companion (other than my family) is my hubby to Taiwan.
The pros of travelling with him, I don't have to worry about anything as I know he take care all of them.
The cons of travelling with him, he always have his points of view but of course he always give in to mine :)



How I met my travel mates?


2011


Hubby & I travelled to New Zealand together in 2011.
Along the way, we met different travellers from all around the world
but we never have chance to travel with them.

Then, fate brought us to this group of friends from the same Kiwi packhouse.
Since all of us on working holiday & tight travel fund, we share cost of travel.

We don't mind dorm sharing with other travellers. We don't mind shared bathroom too. We walk instead of taking taxis in the cities. We don't mind go on a public transport (Bus) with the locals on a roadtrips. We always have fun time going on our own & more interaction with the locals instead of tour companies. We love backpack!!

Our first trip together, carpool to Rotorua on one weekend (Smells like rotten eggs everywhere!)
We had luge ride & went for mud bath :)

6 of us. From the left: Hubby, me, Kaka, XueYing, JJ, Ashley during end of Autumn

And we also went fishing on off days! 

At Tauranga jetty

We also went 15,000ft skydive, bungee & snow experience at Taupo.

Us in Skydive suits. The far right is Maki from Japan. Hubby not a fan of adrenaline rush in his veins. Haha.

Before bungee jump :)

Hubby, me & Ashley, JJ @ Taupo. With Tongariro mountain far behind us.

Snow experience on Winter

2012

Some of them still trying to catch up with happening life in Malaysia but We girls decided to go on another backpacking trip.


Cambodia

Yoga pose at Angkor Wat

We girls at Smiling Buddha & bought the same pants at Cambodia for that day!

2013

The backpacking spirit never left us. So here we go, another backpacking holiday. This time, JJ joined us. And XueYing better half, Bobby joined us too.

Vietnam

We walked 3km in the rain to see this Dalat Old Railway station. Strike a pose in raincoats!

Being silly is good!

Us in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon

We always got each others back ;)

2011: Rotorua Skyline, New Zealand
2012: Bayon, Angkor Wat, Cambodia
2013: Dalat, Vietnam
2014: To be continued.... :)

Its almost a week since our Vietnam trip, I still haven't fully recover myself from the holiday moods. Am looking forward to our next backpacking trip. Its going to be a long 2 weeks trip with lots of trekking. Some say, they are going to get married, and as for me, I wish to have my own kids. So, we'll see from here. :) 

Winter'11 - Long overdue post!

Every now and then, friends around me, always says, "Its feel like Winter today..." especially it rains almost everyday since it monsoon season here in tropical Malaysia.

Of course, the magic word "WINTER" will triggered my brain again. Am missing the New Zealand hell lots! Seriously, I have nothing better to blog about except for that this beautiful place which I mentioned again and again in my blog! Just bear with me :)

It's my first winter experience.

Always link it to snow. So I love it so much at first.
But, I began to dislike the freezing temperatures of 3 months (because it located at Southern Hemisphere, the temperature drop as you travel down)

I hate layers of clothings, from thermal wear, to singlet/tee, to long sleeves shirt, a fleece jacket, a hoodie or even winter jacket. I've actually have 6 layers of them on when I went for ski!

I hate to take showers. Once a day is more than enough. And your skin will be dry and cracked if showers too much! And thanks to the Genius who created lamp heater, towel heater and everything that is essential for bathroom during winter! And I always have the all heaters on before I hop in for hot shower :)

I hate to have icy cold bed. I swear it's totally like a huge block of ice. I don't know how many people can survive through sleeping without any heater or electric blanket on. Until today, I wish I have electric blanket with me so I can have the air conditioner running in full swing mode with full speed to feel winter. Silly me, I know.

I hate to scrapped off the frost on the car front screen. And we will be late for work.


I hate to be in outdoor. Spending most of our time eating junk food, surfing the net and even go the mall. The beaches is so near but you won't like it either. The sand is stone cold & the water is freezing. The sunshine don't make me feel better too when southerlies came by.

Despite all the "hates" above, I couldn't agreed more, I still love winter!
Fishing during winter, skydiving at Lake Taupo, Bungy jumping at Waikato River, Skiing at Whakapapa, Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano! And the list goes on :)))


And here's our Winter fishing :)

This is taken during Winter. And we are so crazy because we wore shorts!! its freezing actually!

The Winter fishing

BBQ after fishing. I miss BBQ there alot. Convenient electric bbq/grill every parks or beaches. 

Some random group pictures of us!

Winter in Taupo: Bungy, Skydive & Ski!

On the way to Taupo, frost in the morning.

Lake Taupo

Us in Skydiving suits

The breathtaking 15,000 ft skydive!!!!!

Group pic with the lonely snowman in front of Chateau Tongariro!

My first snow experience!

Us before doing the bungy jumping!

Us at the Bungy jump bridge  :)

Snow while skiing!

I didnt buy the chairlift ticket, so must carry the heavy ski accessories from hill bottom to hilltop!

I miss all the tons of fun in winter. 

See you someday, Winter. Xoxo

Home in Te Puke, Part II

Yeah, I'm still going to blog about New Zealand.

I guess my heart & soul didn't really hop on to the plane, LOL!

And of course, one of the best medicine for my stress brain machine.

Well, after moving out from Cabin, we found a place introduced by my ex-manager, Ms. Tan (She's on working holiday too with her hubby!). 

Situated at Dunlop Road, just 5 minutes walk to the town centre.
It's near winter, so the rent is NZD$ 100 per pax & week including utilities, internet. Two rooms available.

Visited this lovely cozy house! And agreed to move in immediately after a couple moving out to do their travelling down south.

Here, let's the pictures do the talking (:


Exterior of the place:

Front part of the house

The carpark area at the shed. SPOT my favourite cherry blossom tree behind!

Interior of the place:

The common room

The dining & kitchen together. We all spent the most time here.

A built in cupboard, actually looks like a wardrobe. For utensils, containers storage beside the kitchen.

One corner of the common area.

The Laundry area. A dryer, basin & washing machine. Too cold in winter, so we are encouraged to use the dryer.

Landlady have their own bathroom at the other side of the house. So this  bathroom is for us, renting the place (:
I actually felt relieve while taking my 1st shower there, clean and uninterrupted, of course PRIVACY!

The toilet. The thick white rugs compliments the dark tiles. Simple.

Our room at the top of stairs: 

View from Our room

Our room.

Cute toys at the chest box.

Pardon me the ugly side.  Okay, I blamed on morning & night shift that we totally don't have time to tidy everything. And I spent most time sitting there surfing & folding clothes.

The other side, filled up with luggages & backpackers. OMG!!

We've spend more than 3 months here. So, living with Kiwi family, we are treated with traditional Kiwi or Maori cooking and we take turns to cook Asian ways which they adore!


Tania, just like a mother to me. Sometimes, both of us stay up late in the night, sipping wine and chat the night away. She loves my cooking! Cottage pie, bailey cheesecake, chicken mee sua soup, hainanese chicken rice and CURRY & LAKSA is her favourite!


Even Uncle Peter, Tania's uncle came to stay in for a month, a friendly big guy who taught us alot about fishing and he even taught me SLOW DANCE! cool enough :) He paints alot too. One of his works is hanging at the dining & kitchen area for Jorja. If you don't mind to scroll back to have a look! Cute Giraffes with blue background! 


Jorja's, the youngest daughter of Tania, she's adorable! and naughty too! She loves my scrambled eggs with chilli & tomato sauce and my hubby's William hot milo with condensed milk! I still remembered, how cute of her telling her mum this:


Jorja: Mummy, William mix sticky milky something in to Milo!
Tania: What's that actually?
Jorja: I don't know. But its yummy!! Unlike what you make for me every morning.


Hahahaha, all of us are laughing away.
Then, she turned to William,


Jorja: William, I love this! Can you make me this before I go to school everyday??

Awwwww... Such a cutie pie. And she's turning 8 soon. I miss her lots. She even gave me her few art works for me to bring back to Malaysia as memories.


The eldest daughter, Leah spent most of her time at Hamilton because she's studying high school there and staying with grandma Judy. They only come back to Te Puke fortnightly or sometimes its during school holidays. I miss chatting with them!


And the rest of the members in the family are Jess, Priscilla & Saffron.

This is Jess. She love to pitch! Everytime we're back from work, she will greet us and want to play pitch. She loves William massage her too! How spoilt!

Arrogant Priscilla! She loves to show her grumpy looks and  cuddle at the sofa with faux fur. She can be really mean sometimes! One day I accidentally lock her up in store room not knowing she's following behind me to store. =X

As for Saffron, she is a blonde cat. I never get a chance to take any pics of her because she's so afraid of us, even her owner. Or should I say, she's afraid of humans.

Time flies.
It's already been a year since we left Tania's place to continue travel down south.
Before we left, it's near Mid Autumn Festival,
Lucky us managed to pick up some mooncakes from Asian shop in Tauranga.
We wanted to make lantern for Jorja, but our lantern mission failed.
Ended up, we bought lanterns for them!

The Lantern we bought for the family and wrote message on it! Pardon my ugly chinese writing.

Our Message to the family.

For Jorja.

Tang Yuan we made for the celebration.

 I believe, someday, we will be back again, to visit this lovely family. I miss you guys lots! xx

Home in Te Puke, Part I

From the Hairy Berry Backpacker, the worst accomodation in Te Puke, 

We moved to a cozy Cabin in an orchard.

Cabin at $90 per pax & week including water & electricity. 

This is our Cozy cabin

Pros:

1) Cabin can fits up to 4 pax but we allowed to have the whole place ourselves, so its more than enough. By the way, they provide two bunk beds. 

2) Surrounded by Orchard, we can pick up any fruits like avocados, lemons, apples, oranges, kiwis, etc.

3) A gas heater provided to us that can warm up the small cabin during cold winter.

Cons:

1) Shared kitchen & bathroom. Imagined the chill during the night if you want to use the washroom.

2) Too dark and quiet. No extra lightings or lampost in the Orchard. Another log cabin house is opposite us but blocked by tall pine trees. And another cabin next to us fits in 6 pax.

3) Wireless internet connection is poor to max! Even you have broadband! because we are in the middle of Orchard!

Didn't took any interior of the Cabin, basic with bunk beds & drawers dressing table. 

We managed to grab a huge carpet for the stone cold wood flooring, electric kettle and low table from a garage sale to furnish the Cabin.

Me with pines trees behind.

Autumn.

Staying at KIWI360 Orchard.

A stroll to the Orchard.

The fruits plants.

Fruits plants along the way.

Me with Kiwi plants.

The perfect round Green Kiwis.

Shed at far end.

A Dragon maze in the Orchard.

Avocados plant.

Me with Giant kiwi bird in the Orchard.

A CASTLE IN ORCHARD?!

Outside the Cabin & Kitchen.

Sadly, we only stayed in this Cabin for a month. 

As I often visit washroom during the middle of the night, not even safe to bath alone because the door lock is only a HOOK, anyone can push the door open anytime. 

Cooking in the kitchen after work hours is quite scary actually & too cold! We even encountered weird incidents.

I remembered there's one night, I was on the phone with Mum outside the kitchen while hubby is cooking around 11pm. A creature, I don't even get a chance to see clearly what it is because its too dark in the Orchard. I only know its fury and shinning eyes staring at me. A possum perhaps? I can confirmed it's not a dog because I don't see any around. That creature, after starred at me for 5 minutes and sensed my uneasy feeling, it ran out from the bush and towards my direction!!!! MY HEART RACING & I ran as fast as lighting to the kitchen and SHUT THE DOOR! Damn.

Another incident, we back from twilight shift at work & headed to kitchen to have dinner. We saw rubbish bag is torn and the LAMB BONES lying around with rubbish. I never seen LAMB BONES can be eaten so  "clean", not even a bit of meat stuck on the bones. Quite scary indeed! We never found out what kind of creature lurking out there in the dark.

Sometimes, my hubby worked twilight shift while I don't have any job assigned. I'll be alone at Cabin, alone in the Orchard. Twice when I was taking bath alone, someone tried to push open the door too!! THANK GOD I'm still alive and unhurt!

After much complaints from me, weird incidents & winter is drawing near, the Orchard will be more chilly than usual, my hubby decided we moved out from the cabin and to another place that we call Home. 

I'm very thankful that we managed to find a place in the shortest time and call it Home. An unique experience staying in Cabin surrounded by Orchard!